The government has won a legal challenge brought by environmental campaigners over pollution in the River Wye.
Campaign group River Action argued that the Environment Agency had not been tough enough on farmers who it said had been spreading too much chicken manure on their fields.
But on Friday the High Court ruled that the EA and the UK government were implementing the law properly and were not required to pursue sanctions against farmers for every breach.
River Action had said that although they had lost the case they believed it had led to changes in the way the Environment Agency enforces laws around farming.
The Environment Agency said they had won on all counts.
“We are working to implement a more preventative, advice-led approach to monitoring and enforcement,” a spokesman said adding: “Anyone caught breaching environmental laws faces enforcement action, up to and including prosecution.”
River Action had said that the use of chicken manure had contributed to the environmental status of the Wye being officially downgraded to “unfavourable – declining” last year.
River Action brought the case arguing that the decline in the River Wye was partly the result of the Environment Agency failing to adequately enforce what are known as the “Farming Rules for Water”.
These rules, introduced in 2018, are designed to stop fertilisers running off farmers’ fields into streams and rivers.
Fertilisers – like chicken manure – add additional nutrients like phosphorous and nitrogen to rivers. This causes accelerated growth of algae and other plant life in a process called eutrophication which starves other organisms like fish of oxygen.
River Action had argued that the Environment Agency acted unlawfully by deliberately ignoring the rules under pressure from farmers and allowed them to add excessive amounts of chicken manure onto their farms as a fertiliser.
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